Augustin-Joseph de Mailly
| rank = Marshal of France | branch = Maison militaire du roi de France | serviceyears = 1726–1792 | conflit = Guerre de Succession de Pologne Guerre de succession d'Autriche | commands = Inspector General of cavalry and dragoons Director-general of camps and armies | battles = siege of Kehl (1733) Battle of Wissembourg Battle of Pavia Battle of Rossbach Defence of the palais des Tuileries | awards= Cross of Saint-Louis Collar of the Grand Cross of Malta Knight of the orders of the king (1776) Order of Saint-Lazare | laterwork = Lieutenant général of Roussillon Gouvernor of Abbeville, Sénéchal and Grand bailli of Ponthieu | relations = House of Mailly }} Augustin-Joseph de Mailly (5 April 1708, Villaines-sous-Lucé – 25 March 1794, Arras) was a French general, governor and nobleman. Augustin-Joseph de Mailly was marquis d'Haucourt and baron of Saint-Amand. In January 1744 he inherited the title of count of Mailly following the death of his cousin Louis de Mailly (1723–1743). At first a musketeer (1726), he served in the gendarmerie (1733–1764) before rising rapidly through the ranks – brigadier on 20 February 1743, maréchal de camp on 1 May 1745, lieutenant-général on 10 May 1748, inspector general of cavalry and dragoons on 21 May 1749, and finally director-general of camps and armies. In disgrace, he was distanced from the court and therefore remained a lieutenant-Général for a very long time, before becoming commander in chief in Roussillon, where he was the originator of great building works and the renewal of the university and played a large rôle in Catalan Freemasonry. Made a chevalier du Saint-Esprit on 26 May 1776, he was made marshal of France on 13 June 1783 and due to his age was able to be governor of Abbeville, sénéchal and Grand bailli of Ponthieu not far from his lands and château. However, this Mailly, who fought in many battles of the wars of Louis XV, received from Louis XVI, in 1790, command of one of the four armies decreed by the National Assembly (14th and 15th military divisions). This was a difficult task and he resigned on 22 June, when he learned of the king's flight to Varennes. On 10 August 1792, despite his old age, he fought on the side of the threatened French monarchy. Escaping the carnage that followed the capture of the palais des Tuileries and the September massacres, he was arrested in his château, then guillotined in 1794 at Arras, aged 87 – on the scaffold he cried "I remain faithful to my king, as my ancestors have always been". Family The 4 Mailly sisters – mistresses of Louis XV , his cousin]] Life Beginnings of his military career Governor of Roussillon ''Le Cocu du Roi'' Perpignan Military academy (1751) The university of Perpignan (1760–1763) Port-Vendres Mailly and Catalan Freemasonry The major quarrel (1743) War again 10 August 1792 Arrest and execution On the 25th of March 1794, Joseph de Mailly was executed by guillotine, at the time of his execution he was the oldest person to be executed. Marriage and issue Works * Histoire de la campagne de l’année 1734 en Allemagne, commandée par le maréchal de Berwick, et après sa mort par le maréchal d'Asfeld. Ecrite par les officiers de l'état-major avec des Notes des différent partis qui la divisoient, et conservée dans les portefeuilles du comte de Mailly, mestre de camp de cavalerie dans cette année et depuis maréchal de France. * Lettre de M. le maréchal de Mailly au roi, sur l'administration intérieure qu'il a remplie en Roussillon, 1790, Notice n° : FRBNF36385059 * Souvenirs du maréchal de Mailly, Le Mans, impr. de Leguicheux, 1895. Gr. in-8 ̊ (255 x 165), 111 p. Acq. 293637 –VIIIe, Notice n° : FRBNF32409343 Notes Bibliography * Le Maréchal de Mailly, portrait d’un homme des Lumières, Colloque Le siècle des Lumières en Roussillon, Archives Départementales des Pyrénées-Orientales – Université de Perpignan, 3 décembre 2004. * Duval, Jean-Yves, Le prix du sang bleu : Joseph-Augustin de Mailly, 1708–1794 / Jean-Yves Duval. – Paris : les Éd. le Sémaphore, 2000 External links * Haucourt, Augustin-Joseph, comte de Mailly, marquis de (1707–1794) * Bronze-patina plaster bust of the Maréchal de Mailly * Obelisk of Port-Vendres * Genealogy of his family * Light-shows and public space at Perpignan in the 18th century * Masonic space between fraternal circulation and secular frontiers * LAte 18th century painting of the Maréchal de Mailly * hôtel de Mailly in Paris Category:1708 births Category:1794 deaths Category:Marshals of France Category:People from Pays de la Loire executed by guillotine during the French Revolution Category:Recipients of the Order of the Holy Spirit